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Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console developed by Mattel and first released in 1979. Named from the words "intelligent television," the Intellivision was a very prominent figure in the early years of video gaming. The Intellivision had only one real competitor during its life, the Atari 2600. A successor to the Intellivision, the Intellivision II, was released by Mattel in 1983. Technical specifications * CPU: General Instrument CP1610 16-bit microprocessor CPU running at 894.886 kHz (i.e., slightly less than 1 MHz) * RAM: 1456 bytes of RAM: ** 240 × 8-bit Scratchpad Memory ** 352 × 16-bit (704 bytes) System Memory ** 512 × 8-bit Graphics RAM * ROM: 7168 bytes of ROM: ** 4096 × 10-bit (5120 bytes) Executive ROM ** 2048 × 8-bit Graphics ROM * Pixels: 159 pixels wide by 96 pixels high (159x192 display on a TV screen, scanlines being doubled) * Colors: 16 color palette, all of which can be on the screen at once * Sprites: 8 sprites. Hardware supports the following features per-sprite: ** Size selection: 8×8 or 8×16 ** Stretching: Horizontal (1× or 2×) and vertical (1×, 2×, 4× or 8×) ** Mirroring: Horizontal and vertical ** Collision detection: Sprite to sprite, sprite to background, and sprite to screen border ** Priority: Selects whether sprite appears in front of or behind background. * Sound: three channel sound, with one noise generator (audio chip: General Instrument AY-3-8910) Accessories Keyboard Component The Keyboard Component was a device that was marketed alongside the Intellivision, although wasn't released until a year after the initial Intellivision release. The Keyboard Component was a box-like device that fit the Intellivision itself inside. The device enhanced the Intellivision's RAM and CPU power, however, the device was a flop having several reliability problems, mostly due to its rushed release and production costs. Entertainment Computer System The Entertainment Computer System, originally named LUCKI, was released in late 1982. Due to the poor sales of the Keyboard Component, Mattel thought up a new device that could do what the Keyboard Component could do without the extra addition that made the device too much to handle. The Entertainment Computer System removed the full 64K of RAM and the secondary 6502 CPU and replaced them with a simpler 2K RAM expansion, a built-in BASIC that was marginally functional, plus a much simplified cassette and thermal-printer interface. Intellivoice Mattel worked on one final accessory for the Intellivision, the Intellivoice. The Intellivoice was a voice synthesis device which produces speech when used with certain games. Though the idea was revolutionary and unique for its time, the Intellivoice had voice-recognition problems. In August 1983, the Intellivoice system was quietly phased out. There were only four games that were released to function with the Intellivoice system. A fifth game, Intellivision World Series Major League Baseball, was in development, but never finished production due to the poor sales of the Intellivision. A list of games released that functioned with the Intellivoice can be found below: * Space Spartans * Bomb Squad * B-17 Bomber * Tron: Solar Sailer Category:Consoles released by Mattel